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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Which politician does this describe?

Al me neemar?

The following describes the background of a famous politician. Who is it?;

Mr. X was born poor and out of wedlock in the desert mining town of xxx. His father was a hard-rock miner who didn’t get through the eighth grade; Mr. X hints broadly that both his parents were drunks. Their house was a wooden cabin, built out of smelly creosote-treated railroad ties instead of fragrant logs. There was no indoor plumbing. “We had a little tree in our yard for a while,” Mr. X writes. “It died. The yard is just rocks—things don’t grow.” Sometimes in the evenings, he and his younger brother Larry (there were four brothers in all) sat outside their parents’ bedroom door, “listening to what goes on on the other side”—which, Mr. X indicates, was something violent.

When a boy from another town moved to xxx, Mr. X admits, “the first thing I did was pick a fight with him. He was new, and I was jealous of him. He probably dressed decently, was probably well spoken.” Mr. X beat another kid so savagely that he permanently flattened one of his own knuckles. One day, Larry fell off his bike and broke his leg. Although he screamed in pain, Mr. X thought he was faking it and initially refused to help him. Another time, Mr. X took a .22 rifle and went out to shoot a rabbit for dinner. With his last bullet, he merely wounded the rabbit, so he gave chase on foot for “what seemed like hours,” he wrote. “I got that rabbit. Took it home. Skinned it. Took it to my grandmother. . . . Best rabbit I ever ate.” At fourteen, Mr. X had a fistfight with his father (because he was beating Mr. X's mother). At nineteen, he had a fistfight with his future father-in-law (because he opposed his daughter’s marriage).

If it relates to Jews, Judaism, holidays, Midrash,Torah, halacha or anything similar, I probably have a post on it. And if I have a post on it, I probably have a good comment thread with great reader-provided information, too.

Try a search and see for yourself. If you can't find what you're looking for ask me.

Quotes

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת קוֹרֵא מֵרֹאשׁ דּוֹר וָדוֹר עַם דּוֹרֶשְׁךָ דְּרֹשׁ
Your chief word is "truth"; You've called it out since the beginning. In each generation people interpret You [for themselves] and find [their own] meaning.

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you odd. -Flannery O'Connor

“When in the afterglow of religious insight I can see a way that is good for all humans as it is for me—I will know it is His way.” - R. Abraham Joshua Heschel

I don't accept at all the quite popular argument that the press is responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. The monarchy's responsible for the monarchy's recent troubles. To blame the press is the old thing of blaming the messenger for the message. -Anthony Holden

Said behind my back

"...he's trying to show that there are other facets to Orthodox Judaism. That we don't all think one way and vote one way. And he's occasionally entertaining when he's not being mean-spirited" [PsychoToddler]"

"He's witty. He's funny. He appreciates the ridiculous in life, and has no qualms about telling you when he thinks that you're being a moron" [Cara]

" I'm pretty sure [DovBear] is a really great guy who just wants to be able to ask questions and talk about things without the fear of someone claiming he's off the derech or on his way there." [Chaviva]